Parties
by Girl-Boy-Whatever
Summary: The students of St. Cecelia's go to a party. PreBare. Peter's POV. User name changed from Camera Girl 26 to Girl-Boy-Whatever
1. Part One

Summary: The students of St. Cecelia's go to a party. Pre Bare, everyone is still just friends (except P&J) Peter's POV.

Disclaimer: Doesn't belong to me.

**Parties**

**Part One**

Every party had the same routine. We would arrive, we would stay for half an hour (or maybe forty five minutes if the beer was good), then we would either go outside or find an empty room. It did get annoying sometimes, when my desire to be together in public got particularly strong, but usually it felt kind of good, adding another level of intimacy to our relationship. It gave us a chance to just be close, to hold hands, to talk, and maybe even dance, whatever loud music that was playing only slightly dimmed by the closed door or wall that stood between us and the rest of the party. It was romantic.

Tonight would be no different. One of Tanya's friends from another school had told her about something a couple of miles from St. Cecelia's, Tanya invited Lucas, who immediately invited everyone else. Truth be told, Lucas's spontaneous party invites were a great cure for homework procrastination, knowing that we wouldn't be home until three o'clock the morning that an essay was due was a great incentive to get things done. Which was exactly why I was sitting on my bed, geometry text book on my lap, trying desperately to focus on my math with Jason on his bed-shirtless-and casually reading a book. Giving into temptation, I turned to look at him. "Is that even for a class?"

He glanced at his book before looking up at me, "No."

I sighed, "Don't you have any homework?" I asked.

"Nothing that's due tomorrow," Jason replied.

"Then why not get a jump start on something that's due later," I suggested, already knowing it was useless.

"Peter, I have a day off, just let me enjoy it."

"Well can you at least enjoy it with a shirt on?" it was one last attempt at reasoning with him, and one last chance to get _my own_ homework done. He looked down at his bare chest and grinned. I knew that grin. That was the 'I know exactly what's going through your head right now' grin. That was not a good grin, at least not now. "Don't even think about it. If I don't finish this before the party I'm screwed, and it will be all your fault. You don't want that do you?"

"And what are you going to say? 'Sorry I couldn't finish my homework, I was too busy making out with my roommate and getting drunk at a party?' Yeah, blaming me will solve all your problems," Jason said, getting up and slowly walking over to my bed.

"Now why would I say that? I have no intention of getting drunk tonight."

"Oh, okay. So you're just going to stop at 'making out with my roommate'?" he asked, sitting down and moving the text book out of my lap and onto the floor.

"Five problems."

"What?"

"I have five problems left, it will take fifteen minutes, ten if you put a shirt on, and then I wont have to make any excuses," it was worth a shot, and I bit my lip as I waited for a response. Jason sighed dramatically, rolled his eyes, and gave my text book back, running a hand through his hair as he went to the closet and pulled out a shirt.

"You have ten minutes. Happy?" he asked, looking at me with an annoyed and puppy dog eyed expression, one that I've thankfully learned how to ignore over the past few years.

"Very. Now shut up and let me work," I said, letting the tiniest hint of a victory smile show on my face, I got him to put his shirt on.

I finished my math and looked over at Jason. He was lying in bed, his hair a complete mess from the number of times he had run his fingers through it, his left arm slung lazily across his eyes, and his foot tapping silently at the air as if counting the beats of some nonexistent song. I closed my book and grabbed my camera off the bedside table, walking the few feet between our beds silently, turning the camera on as I went. When I was right in front of him I snapped the picture, capturing his disarray forever in HD. The flash got his attention and he jumped up, attempting to swipe the camera as he did. I laughed and wouldn't let him, running to the opposite side of our small room.

"Why did I give you that damn camera?" Jason asked as he made his way over to me.

"Because you knew that this is exactly what I'd do with it and you secretly love it," I said, once again retreating to the other side of the room and taking a second picture of him once I was there.

He rolled his eyes again. "There are a lot of things I secretly love, you taking candid shots of me is not one of them," he grumbled, breaking into a run which gave me no choice but to do the same considering the size of our room. I laughed as he chased me in circles with his arms stretched out in front of him, ready to grab the camera from me as soon as he got the chance. We were on our fifth loop around the room when I felt his hand close around the back of my shirt, bringing me to an abrupt stop and tug me backward so that I was pressed against him. I held onto the camera for dear life. "Give it to me." His hot breath caressed my ear and I shuddered, but managed to shake my head.

"No, it's mine," I protested.

"But I bought it."

"With your _dad's_ money," I grinned, for all his IQ points, his reasoning was flawed when it came to this particular gift and who really owned it.

"It was my birthday check."

"So by your logic it was your dad's money, otherwise you'd be a hypocrite."

"Screw it Peter, I'm already a hypocrite," he said grasping me by the shoulders, spinning me around and kissing me hard on the lips. I kissed back, letting my hands find their way to the back of is neck and pull him closer, allowing the camera to swing from the small rope around my wrist as my fingers toyed with his already messy hair. It soon became clear that kissing wasn't going to be enough. I felt myself being pushed in the direction of my bed, and an attempt to make it there without breaking contact ended in a sort of sideways half stumble that only La La Land might see as graceful. Then again, it's not as if anyone was watching, and we got where we wanted to go, so did it really matter how?

I managed to detach the camera from my wrist and get it on the bedside table unharmed. My text book hit the floor with a loud unceremonious thud that for some reason made me laugh, or maybe it was the look an Jason's face when the thud of the text book was quickly followed by three pounding knocks at the door and the accompanying yell of, "Room service!"

Jason rolled his eyes for the third time in five minutes and got up, grumbling as he went to open the door. I still hadn't stopped laughing. "Goddamn it, Nadia. What do you want?"

"I want nothing, Lucas on the other hand wants you and Peter, but was too busy making out with Tanya to get you himself. They're waiting outside in the van," she said motioning down the hall with a theatrical flourish of her hand. She looked at me. "What's so funny?"

I bit my lip in an attempt to calm down. "Nothing. Are you coming?"

"Well, Ivy doesn't have a date, which means I wont have to watch her make out with anybody on the way there. So fuck yeah, I coming," she punched the air with an enthusiasm that was very unclear as to whether or not it was faked.

"Finally! When was the last time you went to a party?" Jason asked.

"I don't know, but they're going to leave without us if we don't get going."

He sighed, "Five minutes."

"Three." He closed the door and turned to me, his expression was a strange mix between a glare and a smile that looked like some kind of annoyed smirk. The only problem was that I didn't know if he was annoyed at me or Nadia, but I could find out. I threw a sock at him, he laughed. Nadia.

"Come on, let's go," I swiped the camera off the table on my way out, smiling when he gave me the same half glare as before. Time for a party.

We all piled into the van, which could hold eight people comfortably, but at fifteen no one was wearing a seat belt and three people had taken up residents on various laps.

The only thing that calmed me down about all of this was the fact that Matt was driving, and he had this uncanny ability to multitask by literally keeping one eye on the road and one on the rest of the van, which was a whole lot better than what anyone else would do by keeping both eyes on the van and leaving the road to fate. Jason stole the camera from my pocket and proceeded to capture the insanity. I now had at least ten pictures of Lucas and Tanya making out, Nadia throwing her shoe at Zack, Zack throwing the shoe at Nadia, and the constant game of musical laps that was going on between Ivy, Rory, and Diane. At one point I even heard someone say "Are we there yet?" as if we weren't being immature enough.

I grunted as Ivy half fell into my lap, but smiled none the less when she turned and patted me on the head, something that-unknown to her-Jason loved to do. "Did you finish the math?" she asked, I just nodded. "You're lucky, I only had two problems left but I had to choose between finishing and getting my arm detached from my body. Tanya has a firm grip," she muttered, rubbing her wrist. I laughed.

"Hey Ivy?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think you could be the coolest person ever and get Jason to give me back my camera?" I requested, tilting my head to the side in my best puppy dog face.

"No problem," she said, getting up and making herself comfortable on Jason's lap. He aimed the camera at her and she held her hand in front of her face, as if to say not to take her picture. He fell for it completely and when he tried to move her hand out of the way she swiped the camera from his grasp and came back to me. "Do I get a prize?"

"My undying love and gratification," I offered.

"That's not a fun prize. Can I take a picture?" Ivy asked hopefully.

"There's only so much room on one memory card. Plus you have your own camera," I pointed out.

"But mine is crap, and besides, I didn't bring it. Yours takes way better photos. Please..." she pouted, throwing my damn puppy dog face right back at me.

I rolled my eyes, "I'm going to regret this, but fine."

"Thank you, you're the best," she smiled and hugged me. After some climbing she managed to end up in he lap of whoever was sitting in the font passenger seat and shoving the camera in Matt's face. "Come on, smile, I _know _you can."

"Ivy, stop it. I have to pay attention to the road," Matt objected.

"I never told you not to. All I said was smile, you can do that while looking at the road, can't you?" she held the camera to her eye, poised to take a picture as soon as the opportunity presented itself. He gave in and smiled, she snapped the shot. "I'll show it to you when we get there," she promised. She turned and handed the camera to Zack, "Can you pass this back to Peter? But don't let Jason get at it." He nodded and gave it to me, stealing a confused glance at Jason, who simply shrugged.

I smiled as the van slowed and came to a halt outside a house from which music was playing at a volume that could probably be heard over a block away. This was going to be interesting.


	2. Part Two

**Parties**

**Part Two**

Once inside everyone parted ways. Jason and Nadia went in search of beer, Tanya went to look for the friend that invited her, with Lucas in tow, and I followed Ivy and Matt to the large crowd of people who were putting the music to good use and embarrassing themselves with various made up dance moves. I glanced around, almost everyone had disappeared into the throng of people, the only one I saw immediately was Zack, his unusual hight literally made him stand out against everyone else. The music made my mead hurt at first, but after about ten minutes I got used to it, which was normal, when you're used to the eerie quiet of a catholic boarding school, then even something like the TV being on too loud can make your head hurt.

I checked my watch, we'd arrived about twenty minutes ago, which meant that Jason would be coming over soon to join in whatever I was doing for about ten minutes before dragging me away to find some kind of private space. I heard Ivy make some kind of weird yelp sound next to me and turned to see her giving the evil eye to Jason, who had most likely snuck up and poked her in the side, in keeping with his usual greeting for her. "Where have you been?" she asked, his only response was to raise his cup in the air as a sort of mini toast. "Where?" he pointed the the direction he had come from.

"Just go straight that way, you'll come to the kitchen eventually," he explained. She nodded and went on her way, Matt followed. Once they had blended and disappeared onto the crowd Jason grabbed my hand and lead me through the maze of people until we entered a hall that was only populated by small groups of people chatting, and a few couples who were avidly making out, blind to the rest of the world. It wasn't that long, and at the end of it was a door that no doubt lead to some kind of back porch, yard, or both. We slipped through it, no one noticed. I was right, it was both, a large wrap around porch that looked over an even larger yard that was-much to my surprise-empty. He put his cup down on one of the porch chairs and laced our fingers together, letting our arms swing ever so slightly as we walked lazily around the grass.

"Did you actually give them the right directions?" I asked, it would be like just him to trick them just for the fun of making them look harder than they had to.

"Of course I did, they would figure out too quickly if I didn't, then they would come looking for me, and if they found me it would not be good. My brain isn't turning to mud that fast," he said, faking offense and smiling at the same time.

"So it _is_ turning to mud. I knew I was right about something." He rolled his eyes. "What? You said it first."

"I did, I admit it. I have to be careful what I say around you," he muttered, shaking his head.

"I know all your secrets."

"You _are_ all my secrets," he corrected.

I looked at him, "Is that romantic?"

He shoved me playfully, "Yes Peter, it's romantic."

I held up my hands in surrender, "Just making sure, I never know with you."

"I thought you said you knew all my secrets," he had that grin on his face again, the one that told me he knew what I was thinking.

"Your personality isn't a secret, that doesn't make you any less unpredictable," I pointed out, "But that doesn't mean I can't read you, I know what you're thinking just as well as you know what I'm thinking."

"Are you sure you're not contradicting yourself?" Jason asked.

"Yes, I'm positive. Stop trying to make everything make perfect sense, it isn't going to. You should know, we're the walking definition of something that makes sense and doesn't at the same time," I was going in circles, I knew it, and I was beginning to get dizzy, but it _was_ true.

"You're insane."

I smiled, "I know."

"Come here." We stopped and Jason leaned against a tree, taking hold of my wrists and pulling me closer before placing my hands at the back of his neck. He put his own hands first on my shoulders, then slowly slid them down my back until he was touching the hem of my shirt, he lifted it ever so slightly and let his hands rest on my lower back. He didn't go any farther, just stayed right there, holding me, letting me hold him. His touch was calming, comforting, telling me that he wasn't going to go anywhere, telling me that we would always have this, and that we really didn't need anything else. Slowly, slowly, he leaned in to kiss me, and I-as always-met him halfway.

Kissing him was like something out of a story, I don't know how I can survive the entire school day with out feeling his lips on mine, but then again, we usually leave lunch early for exactly that reason. I've never known what if feels like to kiss someone other than Jason. As far as I know most people have their first kiss when they're between ten and twelve, when I was between ten and twelve I was wondering what the big deal was, simply because I didn't see what was so great about girls, I wasn't interested in them, I didn't have crushes on them, and therefore didn't understand why I would want to kiss them. So instead, I had my first kiss when I was fourteen, I had been crying and he'd wanted to comfort me, so he kissed me, and it was amazing, and all I want to do is relive it again, and again, and again. Just. Like. This.

I pulled away and we sat down in the grass. I leaned my head on his shoulder and smiled when I felt him rest his head against mine. This was my favorite part, because in moments like this it felt like we were just another boring, everyday couple, one that didn't have to deal all of the crap that we did, one that didn't have to take a deep breath every time they opened the door in the morning, one that wasn't so damn interesting.

"Peter?" I looked up at him. "Relax."

"I am relaxed."

"No you're not, you're all tense. You just think too much, don't think about anything," he said, rubbing my back in slow, calming circles.

"_I_ think too much?"

"And I do too, I just know how to turn it off. Now, relax." I rolled my eyes, but gave into the fact that he was right. I sighed and looked up at the sky, it was cluttered with stars and the moon was hiding behind a cloud.

"You want to watch for shooting stars?" I suggested.

"We're not going to see any."

"How do you know?" I asked, lying down and fixing my eyes on the sky.

"You never see shooting stars when you're looking for them," he said matter-of-factly, I rolled my eyes.

"Do you always have to bust my bubble?" I asked, searching the sky for constellations.

He laughed, "Every time."

I sighed, "Fine, will you at least lie down with me?" I patted the grass next to me.

"The ground is all wet," he complained.

"No it's not, and even if it was, you can't use that excuse if you're already sitting in it," this time I looked at him, I knew I'd won this battle. He shook his head and glanced upward before looking back to me and sliding down onto the grass. I smiled and scooted closer to him, wrapping myself in his arms and settling my head on his chest. "There's one!" I said, pointing.

"That's an airplane."

"How do you know?"

"It's moving very slowly, and it's red." I sighed, he was right.

"Do you think I can still make a wish on it?" that was the fun part anyway.

"You want to wish on an airplane?" I could practically _see_ him rolling his eyes.

I shrugged, "Why not?"

"What would you wish for?" Jason asked.

"I can't tell you that," it wont come true if you tell anyone, he should know that.

"Don't you think different rules apply of you're wishing on an airplane?" I pondered this.

"No, those rules aren't just for wishing on stars, they're for any kind of wishes, at least, any kind that I've heard of," it seemed like a reasonable argument.

"Have you ever heard of airplane wishes?" his tone was challenging, and the plane was completely out of sight by now, so the conversation had turned to just being about him wanting to know my wish. In truth, I didn't having anything in mind, but it was still fun to mess with him.

"Do you really want to know?" I asked.

"Yes, I really do."

"Fine, I'll tell you," I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, "I wish that Jason would stop pestering me about my wish. There, now you know," I giggled and rolled away, getting a jump start on the chase that I knew was going to happen.

"Why you little..." he scrambled to his feet and tried to tackle me to the ground, but I took off running to the other side of the yard. He ran after me, never far behind, never quite catching up, he almost had me a couple of times but I managed to dodge his attempts and keep going. I was getting tired, I was running out of breath, I would have to stop soon, but I didn't want to give up, I refused to let him win. This was the game we played, the constant competition, the camera, the wish, it was all part of it, and it was extremely fun.

Finally I slowed down and leaned against the tree, trying desperately to regain my breath. Jason however, didn't stop until he was right in front of me, also breathing heavily, our faces inches apart, his hands on my shoulders, pinning me where I was. "Tell me your wish." I shook my head and smiled, this round was still mine. "Then tell me something else."

"I love you."

"Something I _don't_ know."

"But you know all my secrets," I pointed out.

"Then tell me again."

"Are you really that full of yourself?" I asked, grinning.

He thought about it for a minute, "Maybe, but it's not everyday that I get to hear someone confess their undying love for me."

"Well for one thing, you do get to hear it everyday, many times in fact, and for another, who said it was undying?" I was finally starting to get my breath back, the only problem was that my resolve was wavering, I did a good job of hiding it, but I knew he could tell.

"First you did, and then I did, and then we had a whole conversation about it and came to the conclusion that if I love you when I die, and if you love me when you die, then it really is 'undying'," he said it casually, as if we were talking about the weather, but he fixed me with this intense, irresistible stare, that I knew without a doubt would be my undoing. I remembered that conversation, it had also been surprisingly casual, used at the time to avoid working on a history paper, but ending with our notes strewn on the floor as we curled in my bed, kissing every now and then, but mostly just lying there, thinking about what we had just said to each other, knowing that every word if it was true, and liking the idea very, very much.

I smiled and he leaned in so that his forehead was resting against mine. I closed my eyes, memorizing every detail, the tree, the grass, the music vibrating from inside the house, Jason's touch, Jason, me, everything, I refused to forget it. I felt his hands leave my shoulders and grip the sides of my face, tilting my head up far too slowly so that his lips brushed ever so slightly against mine. I leaned in and tried to deepen the kiss, but he pulled away. I looked at him and he kissed the top of my head, "Close your eyes," he whispered. I did. He kissed my head again, then my cheek, then my lips. I kissed back, but let him lead. It was gentle, feather light kisses supported my his hands softly cradling my face. It was something we hadn't done before-not at parties at least-it felt new, and new felt good.

There was a sudden chorus of screams and laughter, accompanied by all too familiar voices yelling our names into the dark. We sighed and broke apart. Jason slid his hands up and down my arms before grasping my hands and pulling me away from the tree towards the front of the house, where the van was parked and our classmates were waiting. He grinned at me, "Time for school."


End file.
